Top seeds Munster rewarded with favourable draw as Champions Cup pools revealed

Leinster will meet European rivals La Rochelle in Pool 4.

Wed, 21 Jun, 2023 - 13:22

Simon Lewis

Leinster face a Champions Cup final rerun with Ronan O’Gara’s back-to-back winners La Rochelle while Munster face old foes Northampton Saints, Exeter Chiefs and Toulon following Wednesday’s 2023/24 pool draw.

All four Irish provinces learned the challenges facing them when the pool stages get underway this December during the 2023/24 Champions Cup pool draw, which was staged at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which will host next season’s finals weekend on May 24 and 25.

The draw was conducted under a new competition format and minus a title sponsor following Heineken’s decision to end its long-standing partnership with the premier event.

Competition organisers EPCR have dispensed with the Covid-era framework of two pools of 12 teams yet resisted a return to the original format of six pools of four clubs each with home and away fixtures against each of their rivals.

Next season’s Champions Cup will feature four pools of six clubs each, each pool containing two clubs from each of the French Top14, English Premiership and United Rugby Championship (URC). Yet each team will play four pool matches against four different clubs not from the same league, two at home and two away.

A further wrinkle sees clubs from the same URC Shield kept apart in the pool stages, meaning Ireland’s four provinces were drawn into separate pools, as were South Africa participants the Stormers and the Bulls.

Munster’s pole position as URC champions saw them drawn with last season’s pool opponents Northampton, 2021-22 Round of 16 rivals Exeter, and three-time champions Toulon, whom they beat in their last meeting, a 2017-18 quarter-final home victory at Thomond Park. Also in Pool 3 alongside Graham Rowntree’s side are French side and first-time opponents Bayonne and fellow URC club Glasgow Warriors.

Leinster’s price for a semi-final URC exit at the hands of Munster and European final defeat to La Rochelle was missing out on top seeding and a tough draw in Pool Four alongside O’Gara’s double Champions Cup winners, English heavyweights Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks and Stade Francais. URC rivals the Stormers complete the pool.

Connacht have been drawn in the same group as English champions Saracens and Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears, as well as French duo Bordeaux and Lyon, with the Bulls making up Pool 1.

Ulster must do battle for a second season in a row with French title winners Toulouse, whose dramatic late win in last weekend’s final over La Rochelle kept Leinster out of the Tier 1 seedings. Also in Pool 2 are Johann van Graan’s Bath, Harlequins and Racing 92, as well as Cardiff.